AIG Women's Open Championship Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

AIG Women’s Open: Australian army of Lee, Hillier, Green, Su and Kyriacou target more major glory in Scotland

Matt Smith — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 11:39:03 +0000

Minjee Lee. LET

By Matt Smith
The Australian contingent for the AIG Women’s Open Championship will be hunting more success in Scotland to emulate 2002 champ Karrie Webb and keep up the Aussie major momentum following Cameron Smith’s recent triumph at the 150th men’s Open Championship at St Andrews.

World No. 2 Minjee Lee leads this week’s Australian hopefuls, and is joined by 2019 Women’s PGA Championship winner Hannah Green, 2022 Aramco Team Series – Bangkok team champ Whitney Hillier, 2022 Australian WPGA Championship winner Su Oh and rising star Steph Kyriacou.

Lee claimed her first ever major top 10 in 2015 at this championship, and now has nine to her name including two victories, and will be going for another at Muirfield.

MORE: Muirfield’s long and bumpy road to hosting Women’s Open

The quintet will look to build on Australia’s recent success in Scotland and its history in the Open, which has previously witnessed five Australian champions, including seven-time major champion Webb.

This year’s Women’s US Open champion, Lee, said, “I am really looking forward to closing out the major season at Muirfield for the AIG Women’s Open. I love the challenges presented by links golf and I am really looking forward to playing at Muirfield. It’s been a great few weeks for Australian golf with Cam’s win at The 150th Open and Karrie’s at the Senior LPGA Championship last week, so I will, of course, be trying my best to keep the winning streak running.”

Whitney Hillier

Webb forged the way for young Australians looking to find success in the professional women’s game, leaving a legacy for today’s generations to follow through the famed Karrie Webb Series Scholarship.

Among the recipients of the honour include Lee, Green and Hillier, who will look to build on the tutelage and support from the scholarship, and personal inspiration of Webb, when it comes to round one of the AIG Women’s Open at the home of The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers.

Webb’s inspiration and legacy in the game was further elevated last weekend as she revisited her infamous duals with fellow legend, Annika Sorenstam, to claim her first Senior LPGA Championship title at Salina Country Club.

Counting down to the final major of the year, Webb said, “As a former winner I am looking forward to watching the AIG Women’s Open next week. The women players are all so incredibly talented that I look forward to seeing how they take on the famed links of Muirfield.”

“Australian golf is so strong at the moment with Cam Smith having just won The 150th Open and Minjee Lee the Women’s US Open in June, I am hoping Australian golf fans will have more to cheer about at the AIG Women’s Open.”

The AIG Women’s Open will take place from August 4-7 at Muirfield.

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For men and women, final four holes define why it’s ‘Car-Nasty’ in Open

Golf Digest Middle East — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 01:19:57 +0000

Andrew Redington
Sei Young Kim tees off on the 18th hole during the second round of the AIG Women’s British Open at Carnoustie.

By John Huggan
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — Back in 2018, the last time the Open Championship visited Carnoustie Golf Links, the famed and ferocious finishing stretch from the 15th tee to 18th green provoked the usual mixture of shock and awe from the unfortunate competitors. “A slog,” was 2014 champion Rory McIlroy’s verdict. Zach Johnson, the Irishman’s successor as “champion golfer of the year,” came up with one word, “nasty.”

And three years on, nothing much has changed, both psychologically and statistically. “No. 17 is a beast,” says Lydia Ko. “And 18 is also a beast.”

Which sounds about right. Just as they were halfway to Francesco Molinari’s eventual triumph in 2018, this week the last four holes are all among the top-six toughest after 36 holes of the AIG Women’s Open. Which is the stat you can take to the bank at any Carnoustie Open, male or female. Day-to-day, though, the identities of the other hardest holes can vary.

Take this week. On Thursday, the most difficult hole on the ancient links (relative to par) was the 387-yard fifth. Famous at the venue for Ben Hogan’s iconic chip-in for birdie during the final round of the 1953 Open, the fifth green has two tiers. The slope between the two is somewhere between “steep” and “severe.” And when the pin is placed on the upper level, as it was for the opening round, this relatively innocuous hole is suddenly transformed. Jekyll becomes Hyde, pushing the field average up to 4.48. But in Friday’s second round, the fifth averaged only 3.96 and was ranked only 14th hardest. Because the pin was on the lower level, Hyde back to Jekyll.

Weather, both good and bad, plays its part, too. It wouldn’t be golf in Scotland otherwise. The first two rounds have been played in relatively benign conditions, a fact reflected in the average scores. In Round 1, the 144-woman field averaged an impressive 73.15; for Round 2, it was 72.93.

Things can change in a hurry though. European Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew recalls competing in a Scottish Ladies Amateur Championship “sometime in the early 1990s” when she was the only player to break 80 on a particularly severe day out on the Carnoustie links. And she shot 79. So things can get (Car)nasty, even if the deteriorating forecast for the third round isn’t predicted to be not quite so cataclysmic.

Only eight eagles were made during the first round. And, unusually, one of those came on the closing four holes. Australia’s Su Oh was the lucky player, her 6-iron approach (one she says she hit “fat”) finished at the bottom of the cup on the 437-yard 15th.

A closer inspection of holes 15-16-17-18 on Thursday reveals some interesting trends. For one thing, the fairway on the 17th—the hole dubbed “Island”—was the easiest on the course to find, although hitting the green in regulation is a lot harder.

To the surprise of no one, the hardest green to find on Day 1 was the 16th, a notoriously difficult 220-yard par 3. Not much more than one-in-three players managed to locate the putting surface in one shot.

We could go on and on. Suffice to say that, during Day One, the field played the course in a collective 166 over par, 149 of which were accumulated on Carnoustie’s “final four.” Hardest finishing stretch in golf? Of course. Nothing else is close.

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Local caddie has Lexi Thompson finally feeling comfortable with links golf

Golf Digest Middle East — Sat, 21 Aug 2021 00:54:09 +0000

Charlie Crowhurst/R&A
Lexi Thompson has Paul Drummond, a part-time caddie at Carnoustie, on her bag this week at the AIG Women’s Open.

By John Huggan
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — Local knowledge and Scottish links have always been closely related. They go together like fish and chips, haggis and neeps (turnips), kilts and bagpipes. So past experience of a course offers a definite advantage when the endless vagaries of golf by the seaside are to be faced.

Ask Paul Drummond, which is what Lexi Thompson has been doing over the past few days at Carnoustie. A local lad, Drummond is a car salesman and part-time caddie in the Angus town. He’s also a plus-2 handicapper, and this week he’s on the bag for the 26-year-old American in the AIG Women’s Open.

And it’s working well. Despite the usual language difficulties—“I think Paul is speaking a bit slower than normal for my benefit,” Thompson joked—the pair have combined for a five-under-par total at the halfway-stage of 2021’s final major championship. That’s not quite good enough to lead, but it won’t be far away at the conclusion of the second round.

Reading every putt—“I think that’s where I’ve helped her most; I know the greens like the back of my hand”—and offering sage advice on just about every hole, Drummond has clearly contributed greatly to Thompson’s rounds of 69 and 70. No more so than on the 18th hole on Friday. Having driven into the left rough, the 11-time LPGA champion was faced with one of those “iffy” lies every golfer knows well. A “flier” was a real possibility, as was the opposite, the dreaded “wounded bird” flight that would bring the Barry Burn in front of the green into play.

“The decision was whether it was worth taking on the burn,” says Drummond, who has been kitted out head-to-toe in Puma gear by his new employer. “We thought it was, Lexi committed to the shot, and it worked out well.”

Indeed, Thompson was all smiles after closing with a par on the home hole for her two-under score that included four birdies and two dropped shots, both over the notoriously difficult closing stretch. So it could have been better. And, given the possibilities on the 18th, maybe worse too.

“I didn’t want to take less than a 6-iron because of the burn there,” Thompson said. “I hit a good shot and it came out nicely, nice and high and stopped quickly on the green. But I’m definitely taking that shot and running.”

In eight previous appearances in this event, Thompson has only one top-10 finish and twice as many missed cuts. So she has clearly struggled with all that comes with a game where the ball spends as much time on the ground as it does in the air. But Carnoustie seems to be more to her liking than, say, Royal Troon where she missed the cut in this event 12 months ago.

“I’m really looking forward to the weekend,” said the Florida native. “This is just a very special place. The course is amazing. I knew that coming into the week, so I was really looking forward to it. I can’t wait to get out there and have a good time like the last two days.”

Dampening the mood slightly, Thompson was almost inevitably asked if she has something of a point to prove at this level in the wake of her painful loss at the U.S. Women’s Open earlier this year. But even that memory was met with a smile.

“I don’t feel like I have any point to prove,” she insisted. “I feel like I’ve done that already in my career. I’m just out here trying to do my best. Things like the [U.S.] Open happen, but I played some great golf the whole week. I enjoyed every bit of it, and Yuka played amazing golf. I actually enjoyed watching her play. So I just take it one tournament at a time. Golf is such a crazy up-and-down game. You just have to take the downs and go with a positive attitude into the next one and don’t let it compound. If I wasn’t working so much on my mental game, it would probably put me in a pretty down spot, but I just took it as a fun week. That was big for me. Having the fans there really helped, too. Besides, I had to play the next week, so I couldn’t let it affect me.”

All of which sounds like good advice. And something Thompson has been getting a lot of lately.

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New major test, same Nelly Korda at the top of the AIG Women’s Open leaderboard

Golf Digest Middle East — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 01:37:57 +0000

Andrew Redington

By John Huggan
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — The often grisly links of Carnoustie do not look anything like Atlanta Athletic Club in Georgia or the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama, Japan. But no matter. It’s all the same to Nelly Korda at the moment. “Imperious” might be a little strong, but the KPMG Women’s PGA champion and Olympic gold medalist’s opening-round five-under 67 in the AIG Women’s Open, good for a share of the Day 1 lead, wasn’t too far removed from that commanding description.

Eight birdies adorned the Korda card, a remarkable feat on such a difficult course, no matter that the wind barely blew.

“I was able to stay aggressive all day and took advantage of my opportunities,” said Korda, who finished in the early afternoon and saw her number eventually matched by Madeline Sagstrom and Se Young Kim. “I try to take the mindset that every day is a new day, never mind what my ranking is. Everyone comes into a big tournament like this prepared and wanting to do well. I’m no different. And that’s how I approach every event.”

Inevitably, there were errors too; three times the World No. 1 dropped shots, the last of which came at the notoriously demanding par-3 16th. En route to victory in the 1975 Open Championship, Tom Watson made bogey five times on the 245-yarder, and Korda followed suit, taking three to get down from left of the green.

It was there, in fact, that the 24-year-old’s relative inexperience of links golf showed itself most vividly. Instead of the low “bump-and-run” that was called for from such a position, she chose to play a high pitch, landing the ball on the putting surface. Predictably, it didn’t come off, the ball finishing 10 feet beyond the flagstick.

“Right as I hit that chip, I thought it should have been a bump-and-run,” she admitted. “I wasn’t in the fairway area, so I thought there was enough grass under the ball that I could hit it soft. But I didn’t. I hit it too hard. It’s just difficult. I was playing for the ball to release a good bit after it flew a good bit too. That’s the sort of stuff I’m still learning about links golf. Then again, maybe a bump-and-run could have turned out worse. You never know.”

But sometimes you do. Especially when good advice has been imparted. On the eve of the championship, Korda’s pro-am round was interrupted on the 11th hole by the arrival of former Women’s Open champion Karen Stupples, a member of the Golf Channel commentary team this week. The information she passed on was nothing new, but it at least confirmed what Korda’s innate intuition had already picked up on.

Basically, the message was, “do whatever you need to do to stay out of the fairway bunkers.”

“On the 11th, you have to hit an iron off the tee,” Korda said. “There are two bunkers on the right and two on the left. So I was hitting a 5-iron out here to stay short of them all. Karen told me that the fairway bunkers are very penalizing here. Today that wasn’t so much of a factor because there wasn’t much wind. But when it does get stronger, my plan is to maybe hit 4-iron off some tees, even if that means me having another 4-iron to the green. It’s easier to get up-and-down from around the green than it is to drive into sand, pitch out and still have, say, 170 yards to the green. Over the years I’ve played links golf, I’ve learned that. It’s just better to have a longer club in, which is a different style than I’m used to.”

Speaking of style, Korda finished in some, playing the fearsome finishing five holes in two under par, a run that included a rare birdie-birdie finish notable for at least one slice of good fortune. Hitting to the eponymous “Island” fairway off the penultimate tee, Korda’s ball finished no more than a yard short of the Barry Burn that snakes twice across the landing area. From there, she took advantage, her 6-iron approach finishing six feet from the cup.

The world number one is right in the mix

Nelly Korda with a great approach to the 17th ?#AIGWO #WorldClass pic.twitter.com/S82IUJGZET

— AIG Women’s Open (@AIGWomensOpen) August 19, 2021

“I thought I was in the water,” said Korda with a big smile. “I told my caddie I thought it was in. I was very relieved that it was just in front, which is not the place to be, stress-wise. I didn’t have much left, a 6-iron I actually hit really well. Then at the last I was between an 8-iron and a 7-iron. But I was hitting it so well I told myself to stay aggressive and hit a little punch shot in to eight feet.”

It all added up to a share of the lead, a fact she summed up in disarming fashion.

“I’m just a little girl playing golf, enjoying myself,” said Korda.

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Meet the 15-year-old girl who has the ear of the most influential person at the R&A

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 22:25:22 +0000

David Cannon/R&A

By John Huggan
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — It is April 2018 and 12-year-old Maggie Whitehead is sitting at home in northeast England watching the Drive, Chip and Putt competition the Sunday prior to the Masters at Augusta National. “That looks like fun,” thought the youngster. “I’d love to play in that. So why don’t we have something similar over here in the United Kingdom?”

In search of an answer, Maggie wrote a letter to a man in St. Andrews. And that is how her on-going relationship with R&A Chief Executive Martin Slumbers began. Intrigued by the passion in her words, Slumbers—an enthusiastic advocate for bringing more young girls into golf—replied, inviting the then 7-handicapper to Carnoustie for the Open Championship.

That was exciting enough, but there was more to come.

“The highlight for me was meeting Tom Watson,” says Whitehead, now 15. “That was incredible. And such a great memory. Everything that has happened since I wrote that letter has been unbelievable. I didn’t know I was going to meet Tom until he walked through the door. I just knew I had a surprise waiting for me. We met in the media centre. I watched him do a radio interview. Then he interviewed me, and I interviewed him. That was really cool. I got to ask him about all his past experiences in the Open, which was really interesting. Just to hear him talk was wonderful. For me to see a legend like him in person was next level.”

Speaking of which, Maggie has moved onwards and upwards over the last three years. The 7-handicapper is gone—“for a while, I had a streak going where I cut my handicap in half every year from the age of 9,” she says—replaced by one who is the English Girls Under-16 champion and plays off plus-4. And this week she is back in Carnoustie, again at Slumbers’ invitation, where she played in the Tuesday pro-am preceding the AIG Women’s Open alongside her correspondent and LPGA pro Jessica Korda.

“I have kept an eye on Maggie’s progress, which has been considerable,” says Slumbers, who was regularly outdriven by his young partner. “Today was the first time we’ve played together though. I wish I was 15 years old again. I was very impressed. She has such a modern, powerful game. She strikes the ball really well and is fearless … unlike me over 60-yard shots. As I said to her on the way round, she needs to take her time before moving up through the grades. After she does her GCSE exams next year, senior golf is another level. She’ll find more girls who can play as well as she does. That’s the next test. And if she is good enough, she’ll keep moving on. But she has a great attitude. And she’s great fun.”

David Cannon/R&A
Whitehead and Slumbers played for the first time together in the pro-am on Tuesday ahead of this week’s AIG Women’s Open at Carnoustie.

Indeed, Slumbers’ assessment is hard to fault, Whitehead’s long and straight driving especially striking. Off a tee that was admittedly well forward, she all-but-drove the green at the par-4 fifth, saving Slumbers the trouble of sweating over yet another 60-yard pitch. All of which was achieved with the classic confidence of someone in the middle of a purple patch of form. As well as claiming that Under-16 title, Whitehead was fourth in this year’s English Under-18 mixed championship and third in the Under-18 event for girls.

“I’m pretty happy with my overall record,” she says. “I’ve finished in the top 10 at every event I’ve played in 2021. Next year I won’t play as much though. I have my exams to focus on. I will be going to America in 2024 to look at a college. But that is something to look forward to. Collegiate golf is really the next level for amateurs.”

There might be something else in Whitehead’s future, too. Slumbers clearly knows a good thing when he sees it and an offer has already been made for the pair to compete in the Sunningdale Foursomes next year. In that event, men and women, professionals and amateurs compete alongside and against each other.

“I’m glad Maggie wrote her letter,” Slumbers says with a smile. “And I’m glad I replied as I did. The great thing about the R&A is that we have the ability to fulfil some dreams and let people have a chance. I couldn’t be more proud of Maggie. She has grabbed that chance with both hands.”

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Sophia Popov returns to the Women’s Open as a confident defending champ and Solheim Cup lock

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 22:03:09 +0000

Michael Owens

By John Huggan
CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — Not quite one year on from what was surely the most unlikely—and heartwarming—tale in professional golf in 2020, Sophia Popov is back to defend the Women’s Open title she won so memorably at Royal Troon last October. Things are a bit different now, of course, both geographically and psychologically. The west coast of Scotland is now the east, the rugged links of Carnoustie the venue for the 28-year old’s title defense. And the previously unheralded German arrives in Angus not as an all-but complete unknown ranked 304th in the world, but as the highest-ranked (28th) European golfer on the planet.

Not everything is different though.

“Playing my practice round today, I was feeling a lot of the same emotions I had last year,” she says. “It’s just so exciting to be back playing some links golf and enjoying the venue because it is so special. Plus, I have a lot of memories from having played here in 2011 as an amateur. I’m just enjoying myself being out there, which is very similar to last year. Back then, I didn’t know what was going to happen on Sunday. And I don’t know this year either.”

Somewhat ironically, Popov is actually in danger of being too well known this week. Her smiling countenance adorns posters dotting the premises and videos running on a continuous loop in the clubhouse have already drawn many good-natured comments from her fellow pros.

“You only realise it once you get on-site and you see your face everywhere,” she said. “And you think, oh, my God, it’s been a year now and this is the event that changed so much for me. I think everyone is fed up of seeing me, to be honest. But it’s really funny because when everyone comes by they call me ‘defending champ.’ Normally I’m way too humble of a person to even identify with something like that, but I know this week I can. So I’m just taking it all in. I’m like, ‘Yep, I’m defending.’ So I’m getting better at just accepting that and being all cool about it.”

All of which is a long way from the 54-hole Cactus Tour events that were Popov’s home in the middle of last year, a time when she was reduced to caddying for close friend Anne Van Damm only weeks before Troon came along and changed her life. Since then, however, Popov has proved that her maiden LPGA victory was no fluke. Her elevated world ranking is evidence enough of a string of high finishes that have guaranteed her a place on the European Solheim Cup team that will be finalized and announced on Sunday evening.

To that end, Popov has been in regular contact with Solheim skipper Catriona Matthew. No bad thing. The Scot’s routinely calm demeanour is a soothing influence on one inclined to excitement when the subject of the biennial contest with the United States is mentioned.

“A lot of times, I mentally get ahead of myself a little bit, just really looking forward to that week,” admits Popov. “But I’m proud of how I have backed up my win here last year with some other finishes to make the team. I did that pretty well throughout the end of last season and the beginning of this season. Now I fully grasp the idea that I really belong on that team. So I can really enjoy it and look forward to it.”

Richard Heathcote/R&A
An emotional Popov walks to collect her trophy after winning at Troon last year.

As for the state of her game right now, Popov arrives on the back of a missed cut in last week’s Women’s Scottish Open at Dumbarnie Links. Which is not to say she is not harbouring positive vibes about what lies ahead.

“My game is actually in a better spot than I think it is,” she says. “A few weeks ago I was playing so much I got tired and mistakes were creeping in. Every week seemed to be really long and gruelling. So I’ve been trying to keep everything simple. I tend to over-complicate things for myself by trying to be the perfect ball-striker that I think I can be. But that’s just not necessary around here. You just have to pick good targets and miss the ball in the right spots. My practice rounds have been good. So it’s about keeping my head in the game and making sure I stay focused, especially on some of the tougher shots.”

Of course, if all else fails, she can always think about last year.

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